TV mailbag.

I recently saw the movie "The Thing Called Love" with...

August 04, 1996

I recently saw the movie "The Thing Called Love" with River Phoenix and Sandra Bullock on TV, but I'd never heard of it before. Was it ever in theaters?

Only a relative handful, which is somewhat surprising for a movie directed by Peter Bogdanovich, the noted filmmaker also responsible for "The Last Picture Show" and "Paper Moon." (He also did a TV-movie last year for CBS, "Blessed Assurance" with Grant Show and Cicely Tyson, that has yet to air.) "The Thing Called Love" had its first major exposure on videocassette, then made the pay-cable rounds before NBC televised it several weeks ago; also featuring Samantha Mathis, Dermot Mulroney and Anthony Clark ("Boston Common"), it was one of the last projects made by the late Phoenix.

- Though Fox has said "L.A. Firefighters" will return in the fall, I've heard since that it might not. Which is true?

The show will be back, but probably not until October or November, since production of new episodes isn't slated to start for another two weeks. According to Fox executives, it's likely to have a new title ... and it has a new co-executive producer, "21 Jump Street" and "A-Team" veteran Patrick Hasburgh, who's been brought in largely to address the concerns of actual firefighters who complained (and rather loudly, too) about what they perceived as a lack of reality in the program. Most of the cast members (including "ER" alumna Christine Elise) will be back, and while the series is targeted for an early-Sunday-evening slot once it returns, a game show ("Big Deal!") will fill that time period for September and part of October.

- Has "Touched by an Angel" been renewed for next season?

Not only has it, but the Roma Downey-Della Reese show is getting one of the prime slots on the CBS schedule ... Sundays right after "60 Minutes." In preparation for that move, the show will be getting dual airings weekly starting on Aug. 11, with Sunday repeats being added to the ongoing Saturday-night reruns for the remainder of the summer. "Angel" also is yielding a CBS spinoff show, "Promised Land" with Gerald McRaney, which will air Tuesdays this fall.